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Post by crossless on Jul 24, 2010 17:34:29 GMT
Peanut butter can maybe have salt in it.. It's made from nut though. I read on internet that a. fulica destroys loads of peanut plantations in wild. My snails have eaten little eggs but not so much that I would offer anymore. But it can be possible that in wild snails would eat eggs too never know. Just have to be remember eggs are high in cholesterol so not to give it too often.
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Post by lee2211 on Jul 24, 2010 18:12:05 GMT
How would a snail manage to get through a shell to a raw egg? Or even manage to get into a bin to get one. Peanut butter they wouldn't get in the wild, and it will most probably (maybe even deffinately) have salt in it. I know you're trying to get him to eat, but surely you don't want it to get hooked on stuff that's unhealthy for him. Feed him good wholesome hearty foods, he may not eat alot, but that's a sign it's full of nutrients
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coyote
Archachatina papyracea
Cochleas ego amo
Posts: 2,955
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Post by coyote on Jul 24, 2010 21:01:45 GMT
I've seen the heart beating through the shells of my garlic snails (Oxychilus alliarius). It's an amazing thing to see. I don't know of any other animal that has a beating heart that's visible on the outside.
Hmm, eggs and peanut butter are 2 foods I'd probably never offer to my snails. I think it's best to stick with fruits, veggies and the occasional fish flakes and soaked cat/dog kibble.
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aerliss
Achatina immaculata
Posts: 281
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Post by aerliss on Jul 24, 2010 21:43:25 GMT
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coyote
Archachatina papyracea
Cochleas ego amo
Posts: 2,955
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Post by coyote on Jul 26, 2010 7:48:06 GMT
It's the foliage of the peanut plant that's a host for the snails. The peanuts grow on underground tubers, where the snails can't usually access them (not to mention the nut being in a shell even if a snail could dig one up).
And that's a good point about commercial peanut butter often having extra ingredients that are best not given to snails.
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Post by lee2211 on Jul 26, 2010 11:03:31 GMT
Exactly, peanut butter will 99% of times have salt in it. Because most commercial food does
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aerliss
Achatina immaculata
Posts: 281
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Post by aerliss on Jul 26, 2010 13:27:26 GMT
coyote lol, that one always trips me up; I forget that the peanut bit grows underground.
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MLO
Achatina achatina
Posts: 55
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Post by MLO on Jul 27, 2010 15:07:53 GMT
Wow...this thread has gotten lots of posts.
For the egg, I peeled the shell off the boiled egg before slicing it and offering it to them. I tried both whites and yolks...I only tried it twice, I've since removed it (they didn't eat it)
For the peanut butter, I used the Smuckers all-natural (which is actually the only kind we buy, I don't like the other stuff). Peanuts is the the first ingredient, salt is the second. I though of peanut butter because I'd read in the forums that snails eat a little bit of protein, and someone suggested marrow in this thread. The place where I normally get raw beef bones for marrow is out at the moment, so I thought that peanut butter may be a decent substitute.
I did get the fish flakes (they had a ton of different kinds at PetSmart) and mixed them with dog kibble softened with boiling water. I put that in the enclosure with some carrot slices, arugula and store bought mushrooms (the package said "high in vitamin D!")
Based on the color of the poop I saw this morning, the adult snail has eaten either the dog food fish flakes mixture or the peanut butter. If the peanut butter would really be unhealthy for the snail, I'll take it out. At least I'd be able to narrow down what the poop came from.
Both the adult and the baby snails seem uninterested in the carrot and mushroom. I'll keep serving it though, as advised, along with the kibble/flakes mixture and arugula leaves.
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Post by lee2211 on Jul 27, 2010 16:55:02 GMT
I meant marrow as in the vegetable. Salt is not good for snails, so it's best not to feed it to them. You can feed eggshells, but generally not the eggs themselves. They tend to stear clear of things that are bad for them, so it's most likely the dog food they ate. Keep trying, and as soon as they start to eat a lot of something, take it out and swap it for something else for a while. It'll get them used to eating different things and you can swap back to them again once they've tried something else. Also, try different seeds. Sunflower seeds, pumpkin seeds, and hemp. If you mash them all up in a pestle and mortar your can serve them dry or add a little bit of water or milk and most snails tend to like that as well. I hope they're happy and healthy, and best of luck
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MLO
Achatina achatina
Posts: 55
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Post by MLO on Jul 27, 2010 23:15:56 GMT
I meant marrow as in the vegetable. Oops. I didn't even know there was a vegetable called marrow. I've removed the peanut butter and replenished the kibble/flake mixture, carrots and mushrooms. I also put in smaller portions so that I can easily tell if it's been eaten. Except for a large date, which I put in whole after tearing it a bit so the insides were exposed. I did not know they could drink milk. I will definitely try a bit of that with some seeds. I hope so too. It's hard to tell on this end...I'll swear that I should just release the adult snail back into the wild, albeit a safer place where I found it, and then I'll find it literally tunneling into a cucumber (well, not any more since I removed them). Plus I discovered another baby...no idea where it came from since I cleaned the cage recently and I haven't seen the snail burrowing or eggs anywhere.
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aerliss
Achatina immaculata
Posts: 281
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Post by aerliss on Jul 27, 2010 23:52:59 GMT
You say "cage" and "enclosure"... what are you keeping them in?
Also; do we know what they are yet?
I've recently had huge success with curly kale. My babies LOVE it and my wild caught little'uns are very keen on it too.
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Post by lee2211 on Jul 28, 2010 13:30:03 GMT
Yeah, marrow is like a giant courgette, my snails are very keen on it. Just keep trying, they'll eat something eventually.
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MLO
Achatina achatina
Posts: 55
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Post by MLO on Jul 28, 2010 17:42:13 GMT
You say "cage" and "enclosure"... what are you keeping them in? Also; do we know what they are yet? I've recently had huge success with curly kale. My babies LOVE it and my wild caught little'uns are very keen on it too. I have a large plastic tub (I spec-ed it out ahead of time using the enclosure calculator). I poked holes in the lid and along the bottom sides of the container with an awl. They are a species native to the midwest, Polygyra Tridentata. I used an online guide to identify them.
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aerliss
Achatina immaculata
Posts: 281
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Post by aerliss on Jul 28, 2010 23:45:56 GMT
Ah, yes, I remember that post now.
Any luck yet?
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MLO
Achatina achatina
Posts: 55
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Post by MLO on Jul 29, 2010 1:43:11 GMT
It's hard to tell.
I see some poop that's tan in color...which makes me think that one of the snails ate some of the dog food mixture...but I can't tell which snail pooped.
I could isolate each of the snails and give them a small amount of the foods (mushroom, carrot, kibble/flakes/milk mixture) but it seems a bit extreme...
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Post by lee2211 on Jul 29, 2010 9:36:58 GMT
I don't usually isolate them untill they're ill. But it's obvious some of them are eating, so I think just perservere and they'll eat when they're hungry enough. How are the plants/seeds you put in doing? Or haven't you got round to that yet?
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MLO
Achatina achatina
Posts: 55
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Post by MLO on Jul 30, 2010 17:01:47 GMT
The plants are growing nicely. There's not that many of them...a single blade of grass that happened to be in the original substrate I tried and a few basil and parsley seedlings. I'm hoping they'll provide natural environment as well as food for the snails.
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Post by lee2211 on Aug 3, 2010 16:41:38 GMT
I've heard snails like herbs, but where I live herbs are quite expensive. But I might get a herb plant for them to try. Hosta is a good plant that I'm going to try.
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MLO
Achatina achatina
Posts: 55
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Post by MLO on Aug 5, 2010 3:46:00 GMT
Success!
This morning I when I lifted the lid I caught the adult snail sitting next to a slice of mushroom before he slipped into hiding. There were bite marks on the mushroom.
I've cleaned off the rock (where i put their food) and adding more mushroom and again some of the kibble/flakes/milk mixture.
I also put the raw carrot slices in with what I realize was the wrong water (rats!). I'll have to toss those and throw some more carrots in with filtered water to let them soak and soften a bit.
But the adult ate a little of the mushroom. not a lot, but its a start.
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Adam
Achatina fulica
Posts: 7
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Post by Adam on Aug 5, 2010 16:02:52 GMT
That's great, I was also having the same problem with my Achatina fulica, it would only eat cucumber and lettuce, but now it'll eat other food too. Atleast you know now that they are starting to eat other food and you just have to keep going
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coyote
Archachatina papyracea
Cochleas ego amo
Posts: 2,955
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Post by coyote on Aug 5, 2010 22:02:30 GMT
It pays not to give up.
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Post by lee2211 on Aug 6, 2010 14:19:21 GMT
Now he's eated some Mushroom I advise you to take it out and replace it with something else, so for example carrot, and then when it starts to eat carrot replace that with some like kale maybe and keep replacing it once they start eating them, and then you can revert back to them later, knowing they'll eat.
It's my prefered method, and means you have a wider range of choices to feed them.
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MLO
Achatina achatina
Posts: 55
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Post by MLO on Aug 6, 2010 15:47:02 GMT
They're not eating mushroom regularly though, and not with the same gusto as cucumber. With the cucumber I could tell when they'd eaten...huge holes in the portions I'd give them.
They're just nibbling the mushroom...
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Post by lee2211 on Aug 10, 2010 21:12:47 GMT
Yes, and that's fair, but you don't want them to become so entirely fixated on mushroom that they refuse to eat anything else.
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MLO
Achatina achatina
Posts: 55
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Post by MLO on Aug 12, 2010 19:51:18 GMT
Makes sense. So shouldn't wait until they're eating more mushroom before I try a different food?
Side note: It's been broiling outside in our neck of the woods this week. We turn the AC off during the day, as the unit is on the roof and can't keep up with the heat, and turn it back on at night. Yesterday I came home to find one of the snails sitting with its rear half dipped into the water dish.
It left the dish as soon as I came in, but that day, and today before I left, I put ice cubes in the enclosure in strategic places (in water dish (emptied it first), on the chunk of wood in enclosure, in a few corners, on top of curved bark they (hopefully will) use for hiding place).
Ice won't hurt them, right? I couldn't think of another way to keep them cool.
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